tomato sauce Archives - I am a Honey Bee

We made these irresistible Ham and Cheese Sliders yet again when we watched the Super Bowl. These are one of our favorite things to eat. Super simple and super good. What’s better than a warm mini sandwich with some ooey gooey cheese topping off some meat? I think it’s just the perfect kind of snack for for watching sports or serving at a party or even for dinner. So what did I decide to do?

Make more sliders for dinner recently that involved yummy flavorful meat covered in ooey gooey cheese.

Yep! This time I made Meatball Sliders. Meatball Subs are great but there is just something cute about having the meatballs served in sliders. Well, I don’t know if cute is the right word, but definitely fun to eat this way.

My dad was up in December for a visit to meet Autumn and help us out by stocking up our freezer with some of our favorite dinners. Of course Mr. I-talian made amazing meatballs and marinara sauce. That big batch is long gone now but I have been thinking about making more recently but haven’t found time. Instead of making a big batch of meatballs and sauce I decided to change it up and make some meatballs for these sliders.

I love meatballs any time but these ended up being such a good dinner as they are a great warm up food. I just love an excuse to turn on the oven after being on a cold bus. Totally helps takes the chill away in me and the house. 🙂

These meatball sliders are perfect for any occasion as they are quick to whip up and a crowd pleaser.

Meatball Sliders

Makes 12 Sliders

Ingredients

1 1/2- 2 lbs of ground beef, 85%/15% is suggested
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Italian Style breadcrumbs
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 heaping tablespoons minced parsley
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
24 oz jar of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
12 dinner rolls

Process

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the ground beef, beaten eggs, breadcrumbs, diced onion, parsley, and seasonings together in a large bowl.
Form 12 equal sized meatballs.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, brown the meatballs, in batches. Once the meatballs are browned on all sides, place in an oven safe baking dish.
Pour the tomato sauce over the meatballs. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.
Bake the meatballs for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and add the shredded cheese to the top of the meatballs and place under the broiler until the cheese is completely melted.
Split the rolls and place 1 cheese covered meatball in each roll to serve.

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Calzones are pizza’s well packed cousin. Everything fits nicely into the crusty pocket. Once you break into time you watch the lovely, melted cheese coming flowing out. You can just have a cheese calzone but it’s like cheese pizza- very lonely. So along with the cheese you can add in pepperoni, mushrooms, ham, jalapeños, olives, sausage…. the possibility are endless.

Personally, I love them because you dip pieces into tomato sauce. And since I LOVE ketchup I think this act of dipping into another tomato medium is pretty damn awesome. Because you are dipping into the sauce you want to make sure it stands up again the rest of the calzone. You can use a home made sauce or a jarred sauce. The real key is to get something thin so it evenly coats the calzones, instead of a chunky sauce.

I go as far as to add a tiny bit of sauce in my calzone. I know, so crazy! I

The same goes for the dough… both store bought or home made works perfectly. If you are pressed for time just get store bought. I think that the key thingwhen you are using store bought it so let it sit out and get warm. Messing with chilly dough just results in holes since the dough has not loosened up yet. That goes for homemade as well, but I think it’s even worse with store bought.